A child's fear
by A-little-fantasy
Summary: 25 year old Annie works at the Gotham orphanage when children start to die from their fears, but will she find herself trusting the wrong people, or will she get herself out in time? Crane/OC Scarecrow/OC


[A/N: Starting back into writing again here is my return piece, I hope you enjoy. Please don't flame.]

He was Bruce Wayne. The Bruce Wayne. Eligible bachelor, insanely handsome and apparently had quite a good mind if he ever chose to use it. Magazines tried to delve into the man's life, digging in as far as they could without ever really finding out anything insanely useful, and that was their problem. They knew where to start, where they all did. He was an orphan. Though everyone knew that, everyone knew about the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne, the disappearance of Bruce years later. In fact, he was pronounced dead up until he made a surprise return and again all lights were on him, or at least they were when they weren't on the infamous batman. The vigilante that spent his nights protecting Gotham City from the corrupted crime lords that had slowly began to run the city. Everyone was afraid of them, and no one went out at night. They all knew not to, or at least, they should have known not to.

It was around 2am when a figure began to move quickly through Gotham's streets. The occasional light flashing on as the person ran past, soon to turn off and let the street fall back into darkness. However, at that time, nothing else seemed to be moving, somewhere in Gotham a shipment of drugs had arrived, elsewhere a doctor was performing his rounds, but the only ones that seemed brave enough to be outside were those who ran the city and those who were stupid.

Scampering down another alley, the figure came to stop. The orange glow of the street lamp above them showing the brown hair that flowed down their back, a face, scared and tear streaked looking around in fear. She wasn't alone. She knew it, but in the dim light her pursuer couldn't be seen. It didn't stop her from stepping back, inching away from the mouth of the alley, eyes focussed on it. But she wouldn't ever have seen it coming, as she wasn't looking the right way, and the moment she did it was far too late for any Batman to come and save her. The scream could be heard from quite far away, but her family, or should that be the home, didn't find out until morning. The third child to be out at that time, the third child to have been frightened to death and the third child that wouldn't be moving to live with their new family.

* * *

With a sigh Annie Fields set out another plate of toast, watching as the 13 year old picked it up, taking a large bite as he scanned over his homework. Shaking her head, she moved away from him, gathering up the plates that had been left by the other children who were now upstairs brushing their teeth.

"You know, maybe if you did the homework when you got it, you wouldn't be having to rush so much," Annie pointed out. Gently she began to wash the plates, ignoring the scoff that came from behind her and smiling brightly. She loved her job there more than anything, in fact from a young age she had already decided that her future would be there. At Gotham City's orphanage.

A hand placed another plate down beside her hand and she gave a warm smile to the boy that had put it there, he simply gave her an uneasy one before scampering off upstairs with the others. It was only then that Annie allowed her smile to drop, taking the plate and cleaning it up. Everyone there, the children, the workers, even the neighbours were hit by the deaths of three of them, all of them bright young people, all of them having just found their families. That was what made her frown more, whoever it was seemed to know who was ready to leave, seemed to know who would be finding a family to love them and it didn't make her feel confident being there. Not anymore. It all lead to the idea of their being eyes in the building, eyes watching their every move waiting to pick them off and it was starting to make the other children not want to meet families. A dinner that had been planned with one of the potential adoptive families fell through, the child too scared to go and get taken away from the Orphanage.

"Annie?" a voice called from behind. Slowly she turned, nodding to her superior and to the police officer that had just wandered through the door. "You alright for them to have a word?"

With a nod she turned the tap off, grabbing a small hand towel from beside her, drying her hands before following the officer to one of the small offices. Upon sitting down the questions seemed to start immediately, putting her out of her comfort zone entirely and causing her to pick up a paperclip off the desk to calm her slightly.

"Annie Fields, am I right?"

"Yes, you are."

"I'm Officer Smith," he introduced with a small smile. "Have you noticed anything different about any of your co-workers miss Fields?"

"Not that stands out, no."

"And have you seen anyone lingering around the building, perhaps, peering through the windows or anything?"

"No…"

"What about the doors, you locked up last night if I'm correct?"

"Yes, I did."

Annie knew what was coming, perhaps an accusation against her, something that would cause for her to have to defend her corner.

"Are you sure you locked up every door exiting this building?"

"Very sure, I wouldn't ever risk it…"

"Alright…And Rebecca, did she ever show any sign of wanting to run away."

"Never, she seemed more than happy to move in with her new family just over a week from now. I know you think it's an inside job, but trust me when I say nothing unusual has happened in this house, nothing at all."

With a nod the officer rose from his seat across from her and following suit, so did she. A sigh came from both parties before he offered his hand to her, thanking for her cooperation and naturally she took it shaking away until he left the room. With another sigh she fell back into the seat, her head falling back in her chair. It was a stressful time to be working there, and she wasn't even one of the full time employees, she couldn't imagine what they were going through.

"I imagine they'll be back."

Nodding again Annie got back up from the chair and smiled at the older man facing her, sure he was her superior, but she also saw him as a fatherly figure.

"You know you don't need to stay any longer, go enjoy the sun while it's still up."

"Alright…I'll see you tomorrow."

Slowly she left the office, hearing the door close behind her and the dialling tone on the house telephone. This wasn't a game, this was serious and the children's lives were in danger, but for the time being she had to push it from her mind. Carefully, she took her coat off the coat rack and picked up her handbag leaving the building and walking along the street into the heart of the city.

It was a beautiful day, the sun shining high above, reflecting off the tall glass buildings that provided some shade. Gotham had grown so much and it didn't seem to ever stop doing so, even in her 25 years she had seen it become a powerful city, though it was no longer as beautiful as it once had been. Looking left and right she searched the shop windows finding little that caught her interest, she knew even if she did find something nice the chances of her being able to afford it were unlikely but it was still nice to dream.

Wandering into her favourite store Annie immediately spotted a beautiful green dress, long, yet not too long, fancy, yet not too fancy with silver gems dotted around the neckline. Taking one from its hanger she made her way to the changing rooms, trying the dress on and stepping out to get a good look in one of the shop mirrors.

"If you weren't already going to do so, I'd suggest you buy that dress."

Slightly startled she spun around, finding herself face to face with someone she never expected to meet in her life.

"Bruce Wayne?"

With a small smile his hand went to the back of the dress zipping it up, making sure to run his fingers over her skin first causing a small, but non noticeable blush to creep onto her cheeks.

"The one and only," he finally replied. "I'd like to buy it for you, call it, my treat."

Just as she was about to protest he placed a finger to her lips, allowing her to get changed again before meeting her at the checkout. Sliding his card across Annie couldn't believe her luck, a free dress and she had met the most handsome of men in Gotham City. To a woman like her it was a dream come true, and it seemed he already knew that.

"Thank you…"

"Join me for dinner, tomorrow night?"

Eyes widening slightly she gave a small nod, she hadn't ever expected such an offer from someone like him, then again since his return he had been known for taking 3 women at a time on a date. She certainly hoped that wasn't the case this time but as the phone was handed over to her she forgot it all and typed her number in. With another smile exchange he handed the bag containing her dress over.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah…See you…"

As he left the store she felt as if she could melt, so she didn't want to openly admit she'd had a crush on him for a long time, but in all honestly not many women in Gotham didn't want a little piece of him. With a loving sigh Annie too left the store, her feet carrying her to a long row of small houses. Upon reaching number 13 she pulled a key out, sliding it into the hole and unlocking the door, immediately being greeted by soft meow.

"Hey Blinky," Annie called out, stepping in and smiling at her one eyed cat. "Did you miss me?"

As another meow followed she smiled, wandering through to her bedroom and setting her new purchase down with a smile.

"You won't believe what happened to me today."

* * *

"How many more tests do we have to do before you'll get this right?"

"As many as it takes for it to be perfected."

"Which is how many?"

"I don't know, how about we try using it on you next."


End file.
